Tillerson Calls on Europe to Back Latest Sanctions on Iran Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on European governments to join a U.S.-led sanctions regime against Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, saying that countries doing business with the Islamic Republic’s force do so at their own risk. The Revolutionary Guards “foment instability in the region and create destruction in the region,” Tillerson told reporters in Riyadh on Sunday after talks with King Salman of Saudi Arabia and other top officials. European countries and companies that do business with the IRGC “really do so at great risk,” he said. Tillerson is in Saudi Arabia looking to counter Iranian influence in the region, including by bolstering an alliance between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In the same vein, he is trying to make sure that the void left after U.S.-backed forces ousted Islamic State fighters in in Iraq is filled by U.S. allies, not adversaries such as Iran. He called on Iranian-backed mili...

Tillerson lands in Riyadh at start of Gulf, South Asia tour 10/21/2017 6:22:52 PM U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gathers his things to board his plane to depart for a several day Mideast trip, Friday, Oct. 20, 2017 RIYADH (Reuters) OCT, 21, 2017  - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Riyadh on Saturday to attend a landmark meeting between officials from Saudi Arabia and Iraq aimed at improving relations between the two countries and countering Iran’s growing regional influence. The chief U.S. diplomat flew into King Salman Air Base a little more than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a strategy to contain Iran and compel Tehran to agree to close what he charged are flaws in the multinational 2015 deal designed to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons. Tillerson’s only official meeting on Saturday was a working dinner with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. He was stopping in Saudi Arabia on the first leg of a...

"Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" Brussels conference: post-conference financial tracking report published Council of the European Union Council of  European Union  , Oct. 18, 2017 -  At the 'Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region' Conference in Brussels on 4-5 April 2017, the international community and the governments of refugee hosting countries came together to reaffirm commitments to help millions of affected civilians in Syria as well as Syrian refugees and the communities generously hosting them. The international community pledged US$6 billion in funding to support humanitarian, stabilisation and development activities in 2017 in Syria and the region, and a further US$3.7 billion for 2018-20. International financial institutions and donors also announced almost US$30 billion in loans. The Brussels conference co-chairs (the EU, Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar, the United Kingdom and the  United Nations  ) published...

General Assembly elects new members to UN Human Rights Council A delegate casts his country’s ballot during the General Assembly’s election UN News Center, 16 October 2017  – The General Assembly today elected, by secret ballot, 15 States to serve on the Human Rights Council, the highest intergovernmental body in the  United Nations  system for matters relating to protection and promotion of human rights worldwide. Newly elected to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council are Afghanistan, Angola, Australia, Chile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Qatar, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain and Ukraine. All would serve three-year terms beginning on 1 January 2018. The 15 new members were elected according to the following pattern: four seats for African States; four seats for Asia-Pacific States; three seats for Latin American and Caribbean States; two seats for Eastern European States; and two seats for Western European and...